LEADVILLE

city, seat (1878) of Lake county, central Colorado, U.S., in the upper Arkansas River valley in a Rocky Mountain area of national forests, at an elevation of 10,200 feet (3,109 m). It is the centre of one of the nation's most celebrated mining districts, which has yielded gold, silver, lead, zinc, manganese, and molybdenum. Gold was discovered in nearby California Gulch in 1859, and Oro City, south of present Leadville, had a population of 5,000 in 1860. Gold mining declined in 1866, but the discovery that the carbonates of lead ores were laden with silver resulted in the founding of Leadville in 1878. When the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad reached the city in 1880, the population exceeded 30,000. More than 30 silver mines on Fryer's Hill continued to yield heavily until the silver market collapsed in 1893, after which the population declined. Much of the world's molybdenum is produced at nearby Climax. The National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum, the Matchless Mine, and the Tabor Opera House are among the features of the city that recall life during the mining boom. The Colorado Mountain College (Timberline Campus) was opened during the 1960s in Leadville. Inc. 1878. Pop. (1990) 2,629.